Sometimes the narrative is wrong

Since the election, it's been pointed out about a billion times that 22 percent of the country's voters said they cared most about "moral values," and thus, moral values are what decided this election. Sounds about right, right?

Well, as Frank Rich points out in a New York Timesarticle today (subscription required), that 22 percent is actually low compared to recent elections.

In 1996, when 40 percent of Americans based their votes on "moral values," they re-elected Bill Clinton. Now that the number of Americans who base their votes on "moral values" has been cut almost in half, they selected George Bush.